US Marines on the USS Peleliu launched their first airstrikes against Taliban and al-Qaida targets in Afghanistan today, using Harrier jump jets loaded with 500lb bombs, officials said.

Leaving a trail of black smoke, four AV-8B Harriers from the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit took off from the amphibious assault ship this morning, heading north toward Afghanistan. One returned to the ship an hour later after experiencing communications problems.

Each single-seat plane left with four 500lb unguided bombs.

US Marine F/A-18C attack jets have flown from aircraft carriers since the first airstrikes were launched October 7, but this is the first time Marine Harriers have been used to hit targets in Afghanistan.

''They were command and control targets ... in southern Afghanistan,'' Captain Dave Romley, a Marine spokesman said. After climbing out of his jet, one of the pilots, who was not identified for security reasons, said ''the hits were great''.

All three planes that completed their mission returned safely from the four-hour mission without their bombs.

The Peleliu Amphibious Ready Group consists of three ships: the USS Peleliu amphibious assault ship, the USS Comstock landing ship and the USS Dubuque landing platform. Some 2,200 Marines and 1,900 sailors live on the ships, which have been in the north Arabian Sea since September 28.

Accompanying each ready group is an air wing, which includes helicopters and six Harriers. The jump jets can land like a helicopter on the Peleliu's short flight deck and don't require a catapult to take off.

In what Marine officers said was an unrelated mission, a combat-ready pilot and aircraft recovery team boarded two CH-53E Super Stallion helicopters and left the Peleliu a few hours after the Harriers.

The 23-man team was equipped with machine guns, anti-tank weapons and enough supplies to spend several days from the ship, team members said. Dressed in desert camouflage, some of the young men snapped photos of each other sitting on large backpacks and holding M-16A2 rifles before boarding the helicopters.

The Marines were not allowed to say where they were going, how long they would be gone or whether they were going on a specific mission or merely prepositioning. But the team is trained to enter enemy territory, rescue pilots, provide first aid and bring the pilot or aircraft out using heavy-lift helicopters.

Under strict ground rules, journalists on the Peleliu are not allowed to report on any combat operations away from the ships unless they are confirmed by senior officers.

Corporal Fabian Perez, a 23-year-old team leader from San Diego, Texas, said his team was ready for combat if called upon to enter Afghanistan to retrieve a downed pilot or recover a disabled aircraft.

''I've been training (my team) for a while, we're pretty much ready,'' Perez said. ''I sat them down and told them to expect the worse, that's the mindset I give my team.''

The recovery team left the Peleliu several hours after the Pentagon reported that a US Army Special Forces helicopter crashed in Afghanistan. The crew of that helicopter was rescued by another special forces chopper and the crashed helicopter was destroyed by Navy attack jets, Pentagon officials said.